My Life: Get-away

Showing posts with label Get-away. Show all posts

Been like month and months since i touch my blog at all. Coming to age 28 wasn't an easy one. As you grow older, there are so much more other things in life which are important. The priorities in life is set differently when one grows old.

I am not alone, not when i am married. Families bonding seems so much precious than i felt before.

Alright,shall sum up my activities for November.

November

In the month of November, my sis suggested an impromptu trip to Batam. I thought that it was an appropriate one as it was about time for me to take a short getaway over the weekend with love and my close ones. I got so stressed up with work and i thought that a short get away would help me loosen my mind.

My sis family first trip to Batam

The kids first ride on the ferry

We booked a stay at Batam Harbour Hotel at the price of $75 per night from Agoda. It was cheap considering my sis and her family had a room while me, love and my bro shared a room. Their single bed was big enough to accommodate 2 adults. What i like about this hotel was that they are situated just 3 minutes walk away from Harbour Bay Ferry Terminal and walking distance to the Seafood restaurants. It is not hard to find them at all.

Harbour Bay Ferry Terminal

Their bed is sooo comfortable.

They also provide free transport to Nagoya Hill/ BSC shopping at a fix timing daily. We saved a lot on transport as the taxi fare in Batam is not that cheap. The reception is Chinese and therefore we have no problem speaking to them. The hotel does provide breakfast and room service. But what you need to look out for is their massage. Never leave Batam without going to a good body /foot massage. Their price were like $12 for 1 hour foot massage? Just cannot miss it.

After we put our things down in the hotel room, we left for Nagoya Hill. They had free transport back as well. We roamed around the shopping mall. It was still the same since me and love last went there. As all Singaporeans do, we headed for the A&W immediately after we alighted from the bus. It was morning so the crowd was not too bad. The food was so-so. If it was not for the "brand", we wouldn't be having our lunch there. The rest of the restaurants serve good foods too.

The men holding the young one

I couldn't take much photos as me and love were like running around with the kids. It is not easy to handle and bring out 2 young kids, much less to say my sis and brother-in-law. You needed more than just a pair of hands to keep them safe. At night, i suggested seafood as i last remember the food there was delicious and cheap. But on that very night, i wasn't feeling too well and had totally lost my appetite for any foods! I was holding tightly to the plastic bag (lucky dear has one in his bag) and vomiting like a merlion in front of all diners. Not sure what i had in the day but it definitely made me sad as i couldn't have any of the foods (which i had been waiting for in this trip!)

Dinner was unbelievably fast and we wrapped up a day at 9pm Batam time. I went back to hotel, bathe and slept at 9.30pm. Unbelievably fast too. I totally shock my love as I was not a fast sleeper and that i slept so early.

Morning was nice and quiet. I had breakfast at 8am with my sis as that was the only time she was able to have a peace of mind. The 2 monsters are still asleep but not long after her peace has ended. Then again, we went back to Nagoya Hill as there was really nothing around the hotel. We bought some kueh lapis at Nagoya Hill again before picking up our luggage and walked back to Ferry Terminal. The ferry arrived at 7pm and all of us were back safely at around 9pm SG time.

Batam Trip to Harbour Bay 2017

by Elvina on 9:59 PM

Been like month and months since i touch my blog at all. Coming to age 28 wasn't an easy one. As you grow older, there are so much more ...

After a week to JB, Xiong and I went to Batam for 3 days 2 night short get-away.

We had all this planned last month as we were aiming to go oversea during the long weekend. We had booked with Sindo ferry to Sekupang as we were staying over Harris Waterfront Resort Hotel. Though Harris Waterfront provide free shuttle bus from Waterfront Ferry Terminal, i was unable to purchase the tickets from their website. We ended up getting off at Sekupang instead. In order to book tickets to Waterfront Ferry Terminal, you can only purchase advance tickets from Sindo counter itself. They currently do not provide online purchase from their website.

On Saturday, we got up real early to get to Harbour Front Station. Had a heavy breakfast at McDonald's before we make our way to departure area.

We waited for about 40 minutes before boarding the ferry.

Batam Trip Day 1

by Elvina on 10:06 AM

After a week to JB, Xiong and I went to Batam for 3 days 2 night short get-away. We had all this planned last month as we were aiming to g...

1 Day escape to Malaysia from the expensive Singapore

The four of us.

Last Sunday, Xiong and I tagged along with his brother and sister-in-law to Johor Bahru for our personal grooming (not to mention foodies of course >.<) !

We were jammed at the causeway for about an hour and finally reached JB at about 1.45pm. As the salon is located at Holiday Inn Plaza, his brother, Chris parked at KSL for it was a 5 minute walk from there. The carpark in KSL offer car grooming services and i saw lots of Singaporean cars in their area.

But before that, we stopped by Soon Soon Heng Bak Kut Teh which is just opposite KSL. The soup was good as it wasn't too peppery. What i like most is that Malaysia Bak Kut Teh has lots of other ingredients such as pork ball, different types of mushroom and has a kind of herbal taste. Since all of us were hungry, we just tucked in when the food came. Please pardon me if i have no photo for it :(

It was a quick lunch and we walked to Holiday Inn after that. There were some renovations going on so the roads were uneven. Just be cautious when you walk along the roads.

Holiday Inn Plaza is a old building with about 3 storey and but air-conditioned . We were there at about 2.40pm but most of the shops were not open. There were massages palour, salons and manicures shops around. We booked an appointment with Toyako Salon at 3pm. Anyway, we went in earlier since we were already there.

Toyako Salon

I was recommended by Vivian, who went there to have her hair done years ago. I decided to try out.

The salon is quite dark as most of their furniture are black. There are many smiley stickers around the salon. You can find them almost everywhere. Perhaps the employees were reminded to keep their smiles at all times. The staffs were nice and chatty.

Xiong was given a cut and scalp treatment and he was done pretty fast. For me, i wanted a colour+block, cut, treatment. My stylist was Vee Koi (Cool name!) and he 研究my hair for a little while before recommending ash green. Ash green wasn't the type of colour i was going for as i wanted ash blue. But i trusted him because he is a hair stylist (no wrong mah). And the work began...

My original hair has 2 tones and it would not appear good if the roots of my hair is darker than the rest of it.

The stylist washed my hair and dyed the roots to ensure even colour when he dyed my hair later.

I know i looked damned funny like this. You can see the roots of my hair turned brownish.

The colour of the dye definitely freak me out. It was a total green and i was so afraid that i would look like Shrek after i was done. But... ...the effect came out really good.

My ash green hair. Thanks to previous bleaches, the dye on those area turned out to be green.

My hair stylist is Vee Koi. He is really patient and he explains the steps of treatment and purpose. My total bill came up to est SGD150. If you are going to JB to do your hair, you can try Toyako Salon.

And after a whole afternoon spent in the salon, its time for dinner. We had dinner at some Korean BBQ restaurant.

Posing with the menu O.O

The wide spread of food on the table. The foods were pretty good and all tasted just right.

We ordered 4 plates of pork and best of all, there was a staff to cook or us ! (Great for people who doesn't know of the meat was fully cook). Though the place looks really like those ITAS but the price were reasonable. It sums up to SGD69 for 4. Can you imagine the price we are paying in Singapore?!

End the meal with watermelon that was being cut into a shape of an arrow .

Me and Linda

Kris, Me and Linda!

Signing off here~~

1 day escape to JB [ Toyako Salon + Food]

by Elvina on 8:39 PM

1 Day escape to Malaysia from the expensive Singapore The four of us. Last Sunday, Xiong and I tagged along with his brother an...

Happy birthday to Wei Xiong! You had turned 25!

Over the weekend, i had booked a chalet at Costa Sand Resort in Sentosa.

Costa Sands (Sentosa) Day 1, Adventureland 4D + Luge Ride + Trapizza

by Elvina on 9:11 PM

Happy birthday to Wei Xiong! You had turned 25! Over the weekend, i had booked a chalet at Costa Sand Resort in Sentosa.

It was my 2nd staycation for Valentine Day!

Last year was Siloso Beach while this year, bii booked a room at Grand Copthorn!

Valentine Staycation at Grand Copthorn Waterfront

by Elvina on 2:47 PM

It was my 2nd staycation for Valentine Day! Last year was Siloso Beach while this year, bii booked a room at Grand Copthorn!

Hi Guys, back to my blogging days. But this time, im in office. Now, half of our office manpower is gone but still, i will blog only when i had finished my work. Please don't get me wrong. I do my work as diligently as before.

Anyway, I shall continue my blog on Batam 2nd day!

I had a rather good sleep on Sunday, though i was kicked and elbowed by my little brother through the night. He is just one little tiger cub who kicks me real hard in my butt while he was sleeping. He had almost rolled over me and took 3/4 of the bed, making me to squeeze with Xiong. and yea, the three of us slept on the extra king size bed together -.- Good life to mum and dad.

The breakfast in Goodway Hotel was very early. They started at 6am and ended at 10am. We were there at about 8.30am. The food wasn't very nice as compared to bangkok but still, it was decent to me.

The restaurant

The orange juice was somehow... very delicious

I had some guo tiao, cereal, sausages, and eggs. That was my breakfast. I seriously did not have a lot and i was quite hungry in the afternoon. The restaurant was not smoke -free and there was just one irritating smoker sitting behind of us.

Trying to blow me away

After we had some light breakfast, we went back to our rooms to be prepared to check out. I bathed first.. followed by the 2 boys. Boys are just so lazy to move about. No matter how many times i nagged at them to bath. their bums just seems so heavy to even lift up an inches away.

We check out at 1+ and starting roaming around Batam. We were going to Mega Mall Batam.
It was a short ride to mega mall batam but it costs us 85,000 rupiah. It is very expensive but the hotel assure that the taxi drivers drove us to the place directly. And so we hopped on the taxi. It was a private cab. Private cabs are those who drove with their cars like honda, toyota etc without the lamp on their cars. It was a good money really.

Mega Mall

The interior

We had Ding Cha there!

Mega Mall was really small, small small. We had combed the area within hours and all they had were stores selling clothes and their Matahari (department stores like BHG) and one hypermart which sell slightly expensive stuffs compared to OGHome. It is located next to Batam ferry and you definitely can see lots of Chinese there. The shopping ended like 3 hours before our driver came to pick us up at the entrance. There isn't anything much to shop in Mega Mall except to buy some groceries and foodstuffs. Xiong and mum bought some kuah lapis and koropok. Then after shopping, we rested at the basement A&W again, wanting to eat their waffle. But then again, we were told that waffles were sold out and we couldn't get to eat again.

The overview of Mega Mall

Always pose with A&W

At the A&W

A&W again

WOW!

The car which sent us to Harbour Bay Ferry

Slacking with the swinging chair

Leaving in disappointment, we left for our ferry. Our ferry was leaving at 7.00pm but as my dad was so afraid of traffic jams, we left the place at 3.30pm. Imagine we had to wait for 3.5 hours at the departure. There were shops opened and we went back to the aunty house to purchase more goods from her. While waiting, we had some breads and my dad had another cups of coffee, taking photos and slacking our time away.

At 6.00pm, we were walking slowly to the departure hall. As we saw people were queuing up, we joined the queue too. When the counter was opened, all of us move slowly to enter the custom clearance. But! we were stopped by the security, saying that we should start queuing at 6.30pm because they are opened for another batch of passengers for 6.30pm. And so.. we waited again at the departure entrance. So much for the jams and everything and yet it turned out to be a scam. Anyway, we were there early so we did not have to be worry about not being able to return Singapore.

Then again, at 6.30, custom check opened for us and we walked in steadily.

Our boarding pass

At the port?!

The ferry we took was diffferent from the one we took to Batam. This one was fully air conditioned , even for the upper deck. The inner cabin was clean and comfortable and most importantly, air conditioned!! This ride to Home was definitely a comfortable one!